Khalid Makes Solid Debut with American Teen
Khalid released his debut single “Location,” Aug. 26, 2016 and peaked at No. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video for “Location” garnered 15 million views on YouTube. Khalid followed up his single with his debut studio album American Teen March 3, 2017, and the album is a solid project.
Today’s R&B is in shift. Every some odd years in music, artists who set the standard in one genre of music usually are swapped out for another group of artists. Previous “true” R&B artists like Chris Brown, Usher and R. Kelly are currently being moved out in favor for a wave of new artists. The Weeknd and Frank Ocean both currently stand at the top of the ladder with artists like 6lack, Bryson Tiller, Tory Lanez, Sampha and Post Malone all taking up the rungs beneath them. There are still a couple spots available in this new tier, and Khalid is throwing his name in the hat with his debut album, American Teen.
Khalid’s talent is evident from the first track. His depth of emotion throughout the album shines through, all the more surprising given the fact Khalid is only 19 years of age.
The album musically demonstrates the life and emotions of an average American teen, doing so in a way that many teenagers can identify with. Khalid tells a story in each song and each track is an opportunity to connect with a different audience of listeners who have had similar experiences. Entertainment Weekly said in March that Khalid is “becoming a voice for the young people.”
Another standout of the album is the production. Even the weaker tracks on the album like “8TEEN” and “Hopeless” feature instrumentals and beats that capture the ears of the listener, despite the lyrics for those respective songs failing to do so.
Though there are strong points to this album, there are weak points, as is expected with any new artist. The first thing is the number of weak tracks on the album. There are five songs on the album that are mediocre at best due to their lackluster lyrics in comparison to the rest of the songs. Making the album 10 tracks or releasing it as an EP would have been more beneficial to the overall status as the album than keeping it at 15 tracks.
Another hindrance to the album is Khalid’s limit as a vocalist. By album’s end, it becomes clear that Khalid has a very limited and defined range, and he never ventures outside of that range in the album.
Overall, Khalid has a solid, but not great musical debut with American Teen. in March, BET called it “A breath of fresh air.” Meanwhile, albumoftheyear.org has a critic and user score of 71.5/100 for the project.
Khalid is an artist to watch in the next couple years and could very well be a part of the new upper echelon of R&B artists. It will be intriguing to see what he does next. American Teen gets a 6.5 out of 10.
